The present invention relates generally to artifact processing and, more particularly, to processing of action tags within software artifacts.
Interactive software tools, such as documents editors and email clients, allow a user to attach external objects (files) into a document being edited. These objects are typically the output from other software applications.
For example, a file containing an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Form may be embedded into a Lotus Notes mail message. For the purpose of this discussion, the external file or attachment may be called an “artifact”, and the application into which it is being attached may be called the “host application”. In the example above, the XML form is the artifact, while the Lotus Notes client is the host application.
In many cases, the artifact contains information that is relevant to the host application. For example, an XML form being attached to a notes message may contain information, such as subject matter, person names, etc. Such information may be meaningful to the message being created and may help the messaging system in formulating the message. In other words, the content of the artifact might be useful to the host application.
Currently, artifacts are typically treated as binary streams by the host application. The host application does not attempt to decipher the content of the artifact but treats it like a “black box”, relying on viewers and third party applications to process and render the artifact when required. There is no method currently available for the host application to leverage the information contained in artifacts.